WHEN 14000 SIGNATURES ARE NOT ENOUGH TO CAUSE A CHANGE OF HEART

May 18, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
Someone once said that “Education molds a nation”. If there is any truth in this statement, the imposition of VAT on private education makes a mockery of any effort to improve, sustain or edify Guyana’s most precious resource – its young people. When 14000 signatures is not enough to convince the coalition government that they are acting contrary to the wishes of the masses and in so doing they are abusing the goodwill given to them by the electorate in 2015, then one has to wonder about their state of mind.
Maybe it really is a geriatric thing! I remember my father as he aged. Whenever he cited a piece of wood and pronounced it to be stone, I could never convince him that his assessment was wrong. It seems an egotistical inclination of the aged to think they always know better. I have no problem with that as long as it stays in the family arena and does not extend into public spaces
I support Ramjattan for his intent in repossessing the firearms of the aged whom he claims have “trembling fingers”. What do we do about those patriarchs who seem to have cognitive impediments (trembling in the head)? Their die hard stance does not augur well for the people of this country. Historically human civilization made great strides with improvement in knowledge (education). Any attempt to limit, curtail or impede education by taxing it is a fatal blow to any semblance of any “good life” for the future generation.
Considering that the public schools are currently overcrowded and cannot comfortably accommodate all the children that attend private schools it would have been prudent to cut infrastructural spending from somewhere and try to reimburse the parents of these children rather than exacting VAT from them because they are saving the state from building more schools and expenditures for operating same.
Moreover, the private schools serve as a beacon and a source of competition – a challenge for the public school system to improve and produce comparable results. The argument from the geriatric club is that these parents are rich and can afford to pay VAT. They cannot picture the parents who are struggling to make ends meet yet in the name of love and sacrifice spend their last dollar on tuition fees because they realize that the single most important thing they can do for their children is to give them a good education.
Had the consumer index been kept on the so called “basket of goods” it would have revealed that workers had a significant decline in “real wages” after the draconian 2017 budget even if the VAT on private tuition fees is called off because many goods and services that were previously VAT free were added to the VAT list.
The coalition is patting itself on the back for reducing VAT by 2% in accordance with their election campaign promises but this is mired in ludicrousness. The masses have to understand that any party that comes to power under the present constitution will be free to bite the hand that feeds them until the constitution is changed to allow the people to elect their MP’s from on constituency basis.
Rudolph Singh

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